中国国际光缆互联互通白皮书2018年

1、White Paper onChina International Optical Cable Interconnection（2018）ChinaAcademyofInformationandCommunicationsTechnology (CAICT) August2018COPYRIGHT STATEMENTThe copyright of this white paper is owned by CAICT(China Academy of Telecommunication Research of MIIT)andprotected by law. If the text or v

2、iewpoints of this white paperare reproduced, excerpted orusedin othermeans, the sourceshallbemarked:CAICT(ChinaAcademyofTelecommunication Research of MIIT). If anyone violates theabove statement, this Court will pursue his legal liabilities.ForewordInternational optical cables are vital to global co

3、mmunications. With the vast majority of international data transmission occurring through submarine optical cables, a countrys degree of international optical cable interconnectedness is critical to its economic competitiveness and standard of living. According to a TeleGeography report, over 95% in

4、ternational data is transmitted this way. Since Chinas first submarine optical cable, which connected with Japan, launched in 1993, submarine optical cables have become the most important way that China connects with the rest of the world. Submarine optical cables from China can directly connect to

5、North America, coastal Asia, Europe, and Africa, and China has implemented direct network interconnection with key countries such as the US, Japan, Singapore, and the UK1. After years of research and development, Chinas submarine optical cable industry has independent capabilities in transmission eq

6、uipment, optical cables manufacture, system integration, and construction and maintenance.The continued promotion and implementation of the Belt and RoadInitiative(BRI)isincreasingChinasinternationalinteractions,requirements on its networks ability to provide global services, and both opportunities

7、and challenges in the submarine optical cable industry. Chinese enterprises should actively participate in the global laying of submarine optical cables and actively promote the inception anddevelopment of related industries.1China submarine cables refer to the submarine cables whose operation invol

8、ves China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile and whose landing points are in China (including mainlandChina and Hong Kong).Table ofContents1 DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF INTERNATIONAL OPTICAL CABLES . 11.1 SUBMARINE OPTICAL CABLES VITAL FOR INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS11.2 FIERCE COMPETITION IN GLOBAL

9、 SUBMARINE CABLE MARKET21.3 INTERNET GIANTS BECOME NEW FORCES IN THE SUBMARINE CABLE CLUB .41.4 DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN SUBMARINECABLES AND DATA CENTERS IS OBVIOUS51.5 INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLE INTERCONNECTION WILL USHER INAN IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT PHASE72 DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA

10、 INTERNATIONAL OPTICAL CABLES. 102.1 SURROUNDING COUNTRIES CONNECTED BY CROSS-BORDER TERRESTRIAL CABLES102.2 KEY COUNTRIES CONNECTED BY INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLES112.3 BOOMING OPTICAL CABLE INDUSTRY142.4 INSUFFICIENT DEVELOPMENT IN COMPARISON WITH INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLES153 PROSPECTS OF C

11、HINA INTERNATIONAL OPTICAL CABLES173.1 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE INTERCONNECTION IS AN IMPORTANT COOPERATIVE CONTENT OF THE BELT AND ROAD 173.2 INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES AND FLOW OF PRODUCTION FACTORS TOPROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLES183.3 OVERSEAS BUSINESS

12、 DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET ENTERPRISES PROMOTES STRONG DEMAND FOR INTERNATIONAL BANDWIDTH203.4 CHINAS GEOPOLITICAL ADVANTAGE BREEDS BROAD SPACE FORSYNERGETIC DEVELOPMENT OF TERRESTRIAL AND SUBMARINE CABLE224 RECOMMENDATIONS ON CHINA INTERNATIONAL OPTICALCABLES244.1 SERVING BRI AND ACCELERATING THE

13、 GLOBAL SUBMARINE CABLE LAYOUT244.2 OPTIMIZING LANDING STATION LAYING AND COOPERATING TO BUILD SUPPORTING POINTS OF SUBMARINE CABLE NETWORK254.3 OPTIMIZING POLICIES AND REGULATIONS FOR BETTER INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE CABLE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT274.4 ENCOURAGING OVERSEAS BUSINESS AND NETWORK TO DEVE

14、LOP TOGETHER284.5 STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND EXPLORING THESUBMARINE CABLE CONNECTION MODE29CAICTWhite Paper on China International Optical Cable Interconnection1 Development Trends of International Optical Cables1.1 Submarine Optical Cables Vital for International CommunicationsThe

15、earths geography necessitates submarine optical cables foreffective international communications. The earth is a huge sphere, andthe oceans cover about 71% of its surface. There is no land route betweenthe Americas, the Eurasian landmass, and Australia, and Africa andOceania are not conveniently acc

16、essed without submarine cables either.Out of the nearly 200 countries on earth, there are only 44 landlockedcountries with no coastline, preventing their direct submarine cableaccess. However, landlocked countries generally have a small population.The largest landlocked country by landmass Kazakhsta

17、n, which has anarea of nearly 3 million square kilometers but a population of less than 20million. Even Ethiopia, the most populous landlocked country, has apopulationofonlyabout100million.Currently,internationalcommunicationsmainlyrelyonsubmarinecables.Over95%ofinternational communications traffic

18、is transmitted through them. Theimportance of submarine cables in international communications isself-evident.The leading role of submarine cables in international communicationwillnotchange.Inadditiontosubmarinecables,internationalcommunications are made possible by terrestrial cables and satellite

19、s.1White Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionCAICTLandlocked countries cannot build submarine cable landing stations dueto their lack of coastline. Therefore, they generally use land cables andsatellites.In recent years, satellite communications have developed rapidly, andnew s

20、atellite Internet service providers such as O3b have emerged.However, the bandwidth they provide is significantly lower than that ofsubmarine cables, and the market is limited to remote islands andlandlocked countries.Compared with submarine cables, terrestrial cables are cheaper toconstruct and mai

21、ntain. However, due to the lack of joint operation mode,terrestrialcablesarelimitedtocommunicationbetweenadjacentcountries. Terrestrial cable networking across multiple countries is notmature and no success stories are yet available. It is likely that over along period of time, submarine cables will

22、 still play a leading role ininternational communications.1.2 Fierce Competition in Global Submarine Cable MarketResources,policies,andgeographicalfactorsacceleratetheformation of submarine cable centers. Currently, the US, UK, Japan,Singapore, and Hong Kong are becoming the starting points or key n

23、odesof many international submarine cables because of their advantages suchas geographical reachability and rich information technology resources.2CAICTWhite Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionHome to some of the worlds top Internet companies, such as Google, and Amazon, the U

24、S is rich in content resources and integratesglobal Internet traffic, building itself as a global submarine cable center.The location advantages of Singapore and Hong Kong are obvious.Thanks to their open economies and well-developed service industries,they have attracted data centers of many Intern

25、et giants and promoted theaccess of submarine cables from many directions, stimulating theirdevelopment as key international nodes.Emerging markets are proactively challenging the submarine cablebusiness landscape. With developing digital economies, countries suchas Thailand, Indonesia, Oman, and Ch

26、ile, along with countries such asMiddle Eastern economic powerhouse the United Arab Emirates andnorthern Europes tech-leader Finland, have realized that internationalsubmarine cables are of great significance to promote informationresource convergence and seize the strategic ground in internationalc

27、ompetition.Thesecountrieshave formulatedpoliciesandstrategiesto attractsubmarine cables to their coastlines. In 2016, the Thai governmentallocated 5 billion Thai baht to Thailands state-owned telecom CATTelecom to develop new submarine cable paths, and has invested in newpaths since 2017. The Finnis

28、h government supports enterprises topromote submarine cable construction in the Arctic, trying to create an3White Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionCAICTinformation channel from East Asia to Finland and Germany. Chilesgovernmenthasproactivelyplanned to reachChinastransoceanic

29、submarine cable and directly connection with Asia. After the acquisitionof Tycos global submarine optical cable network and the Canadiancompany Teleglobe in 2004 to 2005, Tata Communications in India nowboasts some of the most abundant global network resources of anytelecom by continuously expanding

30、 the global submarine cable layingand upgrading the submarine cable system capacity.1.3 Internet Giants Become New Forces in the Submarine Cable ClubThe submarine cable club is still the main mode of international submarine cable construction.The international submarine cable project involves numero

31、us approval workflows, huge construction and O&M costs, and high risks in project operation. The submarine cable club was developed to resolve these issues. In the club, related enterprises invest in a submarine cable project based on their own business requirements. The investment party allocates t

32、he submarine cable resources according to its rights and interests, sharing both benefits and expenses. The operation and maintenance expenses are also allocated by each member. In addition, service sources are guaranteed. Each stakeholder enterprise proactively directs the service flow and fully us

33、es its own submarine cable resources to ensure that the investment costs are recouped as quickly as possible. Moreover, enterprises in their own countries are responsible for handling domestic examination and approval, ensuring the successful acquisitionof relevant construction permits.4CAICTWhite P

34、aper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionThe Internet giants have become an important part of the globaltransoceanic submarine cable market. Compared with entities oftraditional submarine cable construction and operation, the submarinecable market mainly focuses on telecom operation

35、enterprises. Privatesubmarine cable owners include basic telecommunications enterprisesand project companies formed by financial consortia. To meet theinterconnection requirements for global data centers, Internet giants suchas Google, Microsoft, andare becoming the leading force inconstructing inte

36、rnational submarine cables. These Internet giants havealready invested in building more than 15 international submarine cables,covering key links such as North America-Europe, North America-Asia,and North America-South America.1.4 Development Trends of Collaboration Between Submarine Cables and Data

37、 Centers Is ObviousThe traffic direction of Internet content source access takes the leadin the global submarine cable network architecture. In the traditionalinternational telecommunication services, the bidirectional interactivevoice service and the private line circuit service for branch networki

38、ngare the main sources of the revenue for international telecom carriers.These two services determine the international network architecture.However,withincreasingInternetpenetrationandbandwidthrequirements, content sources start to determine the service traffic5White Paper on China International Op

39、tical Cable InterconnectionCAICTdirection. Carriers in different countries need to connect to more contentsources to provide global access to websites. In Europe and America,global traffic flows to countries that have rich content sources, promotinginternational optical cable integration to these co

40、untries. The Internettraffic direction determines the new global submarine cable networkarchitecture. Submarine optical cables provide an important guarantee forthe rapid development of the global Internet, with ultra-high transmissionbandwidth and relatively low cost.Global data center interconnect

41、ion has begun to affect submarinecable construction. The development of cloud computing technologiespromotes the optimization and deployment of data centers around theworld.Not only Google and other Internet giants have deployed data centers;telecom carriers are also building regional service data c

42、enters. Data flowbetween data centers requires a large amount of bandwidth, largegranularity of circuits, and rapid bandwidth scaling. It is an importantissue for Internet giants to flexibly configure and schedule circuitresources between data centers to meet long-term service developmentrequirement

43、s. Data center interconnect (DCI) has become an importantgoal for Internet giants in their participation in international submarinecableconstruction.Googleistheforerunnerinsubmarinecable6CAICTWhite Paper on China International Optical Cable Interconnectionconstruction. Its service applications are a

44、ll over the world, with over 30global service data centers. Because the bandwidth leased from operationenterprises cannot meet its development requirements, Google has startedto build its own submarine cables to meet its huge Internet DCIrequirements.Tech enterprises such as Microsoft andhave also p

45、articipatedin submarine cable construction, mainly using them for interconnectionbetweendatacenters.Thesubmarinecableprovidesinformationtransmission channels, and data centers store and process information. Tothis end, the development path of the information hub is increasinglyclear.1.5 Internationa

46、l Submarine Cable Interconnection Will Usher in an Important Development PhaseOver the years, global Internet bandwidth has maintained steady growth.According to TeleGeographys statistics, the annual growth rate of globalInternet bandwidth is around 30%, and the global bandwidth has grownfrom 196 Tb

47、ps in 2013 to 295 Tbps in 2017. With the development of theglobal digital economy and the increasing use of big data, internationalInternet traffic growth will continue to increase.The continuous and rapid growth of international Internet traffic willstimulate another international submarine cable c

48、onstruction peak. In thedevelopment history of submarine optical cables over the past 30 years,7White Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionCAICTtwo construction climaxes are evident: First, from 1999-2002, from theInternet bubble formation to bursting. During this period, the co

49、mbinationof control, demand, technology progress, and a large amount of capitalinvestment greatly promoted the development of the submarine cableindustry, and a large number of cables were put into use. Second, from2009-2012, the data center became the biggest driving force in theconstruction of the

50、 international submarine cables.At present, global submarine cable construction is entering the thirdconstruction burst. 40% of existing the submarine cables were builtbefore 2000, and have gradually entered the end of their lifespan. In thenext few years, DCI and Internet bandwidth requirements wil

51、l continue togrow, and global submarine cables will enter a transition period, forminga time window for submarine cable layout. Since 2016, thesubmarinecable systemsacrossthePacific,Atlantic,andAsia-Europehavebeenupgraded.8CAICTWhite Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionFigure 1

52、-1 Submarine cable system investment (1989-2016)Source: STF Analytics9White Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionCAICT2 Development of China International Optical Cables2.1 Surrounding Countries Connected by Cross-border Terrestrial CablesBordering 14 countries, China has unique

53、 geopolitical advantages in theglobal laying of international submarine and terrestrial cables. Throughcross-border terrestrial cables, China has built a terrestrial optical cablenetwork architecture that connects neighboring countries and reachesEurope. At present, China has 17 international terres

54、trial cable borderstations, including Khorgast, Alashakou, Manzhouli, Pingxiang, and Ruili,and has established cross-border terrestrial optical cable systems with 12neighbors, with the system bandwidth exceeding 70 Tbps2. Chinas onlyneighbors with whom it has no terrestrial connection are Bhutan and

55、Afghanistan. Through cooperation with countries such as Russia, Chinasbasic operation enterprises have created information channels betweenChina, Russia, and Europe, between China, Mongolia, Russia, andEurope, and between China, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Europe.Table 2-1 Chinas cross-border terrestria

56、l cables2The data is up to the end of 2017.10No.DirectionCross-border Terrestrial CableBorder StationOperator1Russia and MongoliaChina-RussiaFuyuan，Manzhouli， Heihe，SuifenheChinaTelecom,China Unicom, China Mobile2China-MongoliaErenhotChinaTelecom,China Unicom, China Mobile3ASEANChina-VietnamPingxiang,DongxingChinaTelecom,ChinaCAICTWhite Paper on China International Optical Cable InterconnectionSource: MIIT2.2 Key Countries Connected by International Submarine CablesSince the deployment of Chinas first submarine optical cable, theChina-Japan